5 facts about non-fungible tokens

1. The Beginnings

The invention of NFTs is often equated with their high popularity in 2017. In fact, however, the beginnings of non-fungible tokens go back further. In fact, the artist couple Jennifer and Kevin McCoy issued the first NFT back in 2014. With “Quantum” Kevin created the first token that gave him ownership of his artwork via blockchain.

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2. The advancement

The token standard on which most NFTs are based today is ERC-721. Dapper Labs CTO Dieter Shirley unleashed this on the crypto community in September 2017. The timing couldn’t have been better. At the time, the crypto market was on the way to new highs, which was to reach its peak with Bitcoin’s all-time high in December 2017.

3. First NFT boom

With the release of the token standard came two of the first mainstream-enabled blockchain games: Cryptopunks and Cryptokitties. The latter, like the token standard, went back to Dapper Labs. The Pokémon-esque game quickly became so popular that the first crypto kitten was traded for the equivalent of 100,000 US dollars.

4. Through the bear market to the NFT explosion

With the onset of the bear market, prices then fell significantly. No wonder: When Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co. rush into the depths, not much money is spent on Cryptopunks and the like. But if the market is booming, even more so. This led to a crazy comeback of non-fungible tokens. In March 2021, for example, an NFT by the artist Beeple achieved a record price of over 69 million US dollars. And started an incredible hype.

5. NFTs are everywhere

In the 2021-2022 bull market, NFTs were a rarity. They appeared and were used everywhere. Whether as digital trading card games, as in-game items in blockchain games or simply as pixel paintings in the Decentraland metaverse. Even properties in The Sandbox have been nailed to the blockchain in the form of NFT. These got so much attention that even US rapper Snoop Dogg insisted on getting some. Crazy NFT Fact: Over $41 billion was spent on NFT platforms in 2021 alone. The Jefferies Group expects that amount to nearly double by 2025.